MINI-ARCHIVE OF EARLY HEMINGWAY TV AND FILM ADAPTATIONS
1933-1955. A collection of two typescripts and six letters related to film and television adaptations of various works by Ernest Hemingway.
1). A type-script for an un-produced television adaptation of the short-story Indian Camp. Written in 1955 or 1956 by A. E. Hotchner and screenwriter Sidney Carroll, this adaptation was intended for Fred Coe’s NBC show “Playwright’s ‘56”. [N.p.], 1955/6. Small quarto, 23 pages. Very good condition. In light blue three-prong folder, with fading and light creasing along edges. There is light age-toning to the top-edge of pages 12 - 23, and small pencil mark at the top of page 18.
2) A set of five letters related to a never-completed 1933 film adaptation of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. After its publication in 1926, film studios immediately began vying to acquire rights to the novel, but it would take more than three decades for 20th Century Fox to release the classic film adaptation. These are a series of five typed letters produced between September and December, 1933 and written by the various players involved with the never-completed production. The letters concern questions of financing, distribution, and censorial requirements of the Association of Motion Picture Producers. Authors include independent producer Lester Cowan, director Edward H. Griffith, would-be star Ann Harding, screenwriter Horace Jackson, and head of the AMPA Jason Joy.
Letter One: Dated September 13, 1933. Very good condition. One page on one sheet of 8.5 in. x 11 in. carbon paper. Folded twice for mailing, with faint creasing on the bottom right corner. Included with this letter is a list of travel expenses for three trips taken by an unknown person associated with the production in November 1933. Also on yellow carbon paper, folded twice for mailing.
Letter Two: Dated October 28, 1933. Very good minus condition. Two pages on two sheets of 8.5 in. x 11 in. carbon paper. Folded twice for mailing, with a crease at the bottom right corner of page one, a small chip on the right side of page one, the imprint of a paperclip near the top left of both pages, and slight age-toning to edges.
Letter Three: Dated December 13, 1933. Good minus condition. Two pages on two sheets of yellow 8.5 in. x 11 in. carbon paper. Both sheets are folded twice for mailing, page one has a large chip at the bottom right corner and a crease on the left vertical edge, and page two has minor chipping along the bottom right edge.
Letter Four: Dated December 20, 1933. One page on one sheet of yellow 8.5 in. x 11 in. carbon paper. Very good plus condition. There is a small chip at the bottom right corner, and minor age toning along the bottom edge.
Letter Five: Undated (Late December 1933?). Very good plus condition. One page on one sheet of yellow 8.5 in. x 11 in. carbon paper. All letters are unsigned, and free of emendations.
3) Undated typescript, with no author stated, for an adaptation of Hemingway’s short story The Capital of the World.This may be one of the scripts authored by A.E. Hotchner as a potential television production on “Playwrights ‘56”, which would date the document to between 1954 and 1955. Hotchner would go on to adapt this story for a ballet, with music by George Antheil. Quarto, 38 pages. In very good condition. Typescript on 8.5 in. x 11 in. carbon paper, paper-clipped with three-hole punch punctures. Cover page is creased at the bottom right corner. Slight age-toning throughout, and occasional smudging of text.
4) Typed letter from Ernest Hemingway to writer Benjamin Glazer regarding an adaptation of Hemingway’s sole play, The Fifth Column. First published as part of the anthology The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories in October 1938, the author was immediately approached about staging the play. Hemingway was disappointed by the substantial changes Glazer made to his script, and eventually sought to have his name disassociated from the production. In this letter, dated December 1, 1938, Hemingway stipulates his conditions for any potential changes as well as the terms for allocating royalties. One page letter typed on 8.5 in. x 11 in. carbon paper. In good condition. There is a small closed tear at the second paragraph of the text, moderate chipping along the right edge of the paper (not affecting the body of text), and age-toning along the right and bottom edge.
Shelved in Room A. CX Consignment.
1348200
Special Collections
Price: $1,000
NOTES
Shortly after the success of The Sun Also Rises, film studios began vying to acquire the rights to adapt the novel for the silver screen. And while it would take more than thirty years for The Sun Also Rises to finally be filmed, Hollywood had begun its love affair with Hemingway film adaptations. From To Have and Have Not to The Killers, film constitutes a significant part of Hemingway's cultural legacy. This collection brings together letters and typescripts related to several of these early film and television adaptations, including: two television scripts written by Hemingway's friend and biographer A. E. Hotchner, and a set of five letters and documents from an aborted 1933 adaptation of The Sun Also Rises.